100 Tales Challenge
by it-will-be-anarchy
Summary: I've taken the 100 Tales Challenge! This could be terrifying....Thanks to icethroat21 and Gingerstar14 for replying to my desperate pleas! Rated T for violence.
1. Beginning

**I'm taking the 100 Tales Challenge by Frostfoot-Dreamleaf! Since this is a race, I'm not going to name reviewers or anything, or have any introduction words most of the time. These stories will be about a Warriors series that I'm writing outside of Fanfiction, called Wild Shadows. About a cat named Wildshadow. Duh. It seems mysterious at first, but I hope I'll be able to reveal more things later...anyway, here's the first one...BEGINNING! Oh, one more thing. These people are kind of...religious, so don't get mad at me and start screaming, "I'M AN ATHEIST!" or something. I warned you.  
**

"Are you sure we should do this?" Spottedleaf murmured.

"How will we ever know if it works if we don't try?" Bluestar argued.

Spottedleaf dipped her head in defeat.

The two she-cats waited for what seemed like moons. Finally, the starry shapes of two Twolegs started to walk up to them.

"I hope everything I've studied pays off," Spottedleaf hissed to herself.

Bluestar stood, swishing her tail. "Hello," she meowed kindly. "You must be Brittany and Bethany."

The older one, a female, just gaped in shock. The younger one, another female, stared about in wonder.

"Where are we?" she asked. Then she shook her head. "My name's Bethany, and this is my older sister, Brittany."

"Why are we here?" Brittany demanded. "Why are you all...starry?"

Spottedleaf knew this would be the hardest part. "My dears..." she started. "You have died."

Bethany's eyes widened. She clutched wildly at Brittany. "We...we can't be dead!" she wailed. "I'm only twelve! I still had, like, eighty years to live!"

Brittany hugged her protectively. "God calls us when he calls us," she said firmly.

What the Twolegs called tears started streaming down both of their furless faces.

Brittany seemed to ponder something for a moment, then said suspiciously, "If we're dead, why aren't we going to God? Why are we talking to two cat?"

Bluestar dipped her head. "I cannot understand your belief in higher beings," she meowed regally, "but we have come with an offer."

The two crying Twolegs froze.

"We want to try and reincarnate you into a cat.

The Twolegs were silent. Then Bethany asked excitedly, "How does it work?"

"Alas, it comes with a problem," Spottedleaf broke in. "Your Twoleg spirit has to take hold in the cat's body. If it does not, then your spirit will be forced to walk the earth forever."

Brittany flinched. But Bethany stood taller, still gasping with sobs, and said, "God would never let that happen."

"Yes, yes," Bluestar meowed impatiently. "Now, we must do this quickly, before the sun goes down on Earth. This will only work with the newly dead. Now, do you want to try, or not?"

Something seemed to pass between the two sisters. Wordlessly, they nodded.

"Alright then," Bluestar meowed.

"Wait," Bethany said suddenly.

"What?" Bluestar mewed irritably.

Bethany gulped. "I just...I just want to know how we died."

Bluestar snorted.

"I think you know, Beth," Brittany said.

Bethany nodded. "There was that man...with the gun..."

"Quickly," Spottedleaf urged.

"Okay," Bluestar meowed. "First, we must make up your form."

"Can we choose?" Bethany said, starting to cheer up a bit.

"No," Bluestar mewed. "We make its form from what you already are."

"What about color?" Bethany pressed.

"We chose that randomly," Bluestar meowed. "Now, for Brittany..."

An image appeared, surrounded by little stars. Brittany gasped. It was a pure white she-cat with glistening green eyes. It had a sturdy, muscular build.

"I...I love it," Brittany breathed.

Bluestar said nothing more to her. "This is for Bethany."

Another starry form appeared. It was a flame-colored she-cat, with eyes of all shades of greens, blues, and grays. It had a ganglier and slimmer build.

"Just like me," Bethany said contentedly.

"Hardly," Brittany said sarcastically. "It's _much _more normal-looking."

Bethany kicked her.

"Now," Bluestar continued, "Brittany shall be going to the Tribe of Smoldering Embers."

"What do you mean, 'Brittany'?" Brittany asked cautiously. "You mean, we aren't going to be together?"

Bluestar shook her head. "No. If all goes well, you won't ever see each other, remember you're siblings, or remember your past life. You'll be a normal cat."

Bethany dropped her head in despair.

"The sun is setting!" Spottedleaf urged.

Bluestar coughed. "Yes. Brittany is going to the Tribe of Smoldering Embers, with the name Glistening Snow. And Bethany will live in ShadowClan with the name Wildshadow."

"She'd only be Wild_paw _right now," Spottedleaf warned.

"Now," Bluestar meowed briskly, "time to put your spirit in your new bodies."

Brittany and Bethany hugged each other tightly, then separated.

"Goodbye, Britt," Bethany whispered.

"Bye, Beth," Brittany murmured.

"Okay, now," Bluestar meowed. "Spottedleaf, you know the procedure."

"Yes." Spottedleaf stepped forward. "Your spirit must take hold in the body. Otherwise...bad things. Now, all you have to do is touch your cat-form, and your spirit should be transferred."

Brittany stepped in front of her glimmering white cat. Bethany stepped up to her blazing ginger cat.

"Now, touch!" Bluestar yowled.

Brittany and Bethany held out their hands and plunged them into their starry cat-form. Excruciating pain shot through each of their bodies, but they found that they couldn't scream.

"Is it working?" Bluestar demanded.

Spottedleaf studied the two rigid Twolegs. "I think so," she meowed slowly.

Spottedleaf and Bluestar moved away, to the pool where they could look down on the earth below. "Are we at the Tribe's camp?" Bluestar asked.

"Yes," Spottedleaf replied, looking down at the crags of what was called a _volcano. _Hot, liquid fire-stuff shot out of the top of volcanoes. Spottedleaf and Bluestar watched the Tribe bustle about, going to the base to catch food and making sure troublesome kits didn't tumble down the sides.

"They're nearly there," Spottedleaf mumbled, glancing back at the two Twolegs. Then she gasped.

"What is it?" Bluestar asked sharply.

"Something's wrong," Spottedleaf meowed, sounding panicked. "I don't know what, I can't tell! But I can just feel it, something's wrong with Bethany!"

The two cats raced to the Twolegs. Nothing seemed different.

"Her spirit's not taking hold," Spottedleaf cried. "It's not working!"

In a flash of golden light, Brittany's body disappeared. What was left was a white she-cat, fully formed.

"Take care of Britt--I mean, Glistening Snow," Spottedleaf meowed determinedly. "I need to work with Bethany."

Bluestar nodded. She led the stunned white she-cat, who asked no questions, over to the pool.

"This is your new home," Bluestar meowed, picked Glistening Snow up by the scruff, and shoved her down into the pool. Then Bluestar watched as Glistening Snow appeared on a large rock next to the camp. All the Tribe cats gasped, and Bluestar made sure that they treated Glistening Snow nicely before she went back to Bethany.

There was another flash of light, but it was an eerie black color. Bluestar and Spottedleaf had never seen black light before. What was left was the flame-colored cat, Wildpaw. She was laying motionless on her side.

"Well," Bluestar grunted, hauling Wildpaw up by the scruff. "Maybe once she gets some fresh air in her, she'll wake up."

Spottedleaf nodded, her amber eyes wide with fear and astonishment.

Bluestar plunged Wildpaw down in the pool, which was now set on the edge of ShadowClan territory. Wildpaw looked just as she had in the sky, not moving.

"Even I don't understand what happened," Spottedleaf whispered. "We just made that discovery and tried it. Oh, I think I'll kill myself if she doens't wake!"

"You're already dead," Bluestar meowed gruffly.

"Her spirit didn't take hold properly," Spottedleaf mewed. "It did, but something was wrong."

Bluestar's ears pricked. "Look!" she gasped eagerly. The two cats bent over the pool.

Wildpaw's leg twitched. "Barack Obama," she muttered, and turned over.

Spottedleaf and Bluestar breathed a sigh of relief. "I understand now," Spottedleaf meowed. "She has forgotten that she once was a Twoleg, but she remembers all her Twoleg things."

Then the cats looked at each other.

"That could be a problem," Bluestar hissed, just as Wildpaw began to sing in her sleep.

"_All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus..._" Wildpaw breathed. "Britney Spears...."

Bluestar's eyes darkened.

"What is it, Bluestar?" Spottedleaf asked.

Bluestar hesitated, then meowed ominously, "This is the beginning of something greater than we could ever imagine."


	2. Wanna Play?

"Hey, Runningpaw!" Wildpaw yowled excitedly.

Runningpaw's eyes stretched open. "What?" he mumbled.

"I know you were bored, so I thought that maybe we could do some tic-tac-toe! Wanna play?"

Runningpaw got to his paws and stretched. About a quarter-moon ago, StarClan had chosen ten apprentices to go on a journey. The apprentices didn't even know what it was for. From ThunderClan, it was Lilypaw and Tanglepaw; from WindClan it was Bramblepaw, Loudpaw, and Swiftpaw; from RiverClan it was Runningpaw and Honeypaw; and from ShadowClan it was Dustpaw, Rosepaw, and Wildpaw. Runningpaw didn't know what was wrong with Wildpaw. She had these insane ideas of random things that no one had ever heard of before. Like, no cat had ever known anything like a Michael Jackson, whom Wildpaw said had just died or something.

"Well, do you?" Wildpaw pressed.

Runningpaw yawned. "Where's everyone else?"

"Hunting," Wildpaw replied. "But they left me here, 'cause I was still waking up and you were still all tired from last night."

Runningpaw groaned. "What about last night?"

"They said that you were out hunting late with some Tribe cat." Wildpaw shrugged. "It sounded, like, _bad _for some reason, though I wouldn't know why. I mean, you didn't go out to a bar and get drunk or anything."

Runningpaw looked around. He'd totally forgotten. At the beginning of their journey, they had headed up from the Clans, where they had come upon long ranges of grassy meadows. In these meadows lived a Tribe, called the Tribe of Swaying Grasses. He had gone out hunting with a to-be prey-hunter that seemed to be Tanglepaw's best friend; a pretty black she-cat with a white star on her forehead named Running Under The Stars.

Wildpaw cocked her head at Runningpaw, seeming to read his mind. "Do you think that Tanglepaw has a crush on that Running Under The Stars?"

"No, I think that if he wanted to crush her, he would have sat on her long ago," Runningpaw meowed tautly as he stretched again.

"No, I mean _a crush_," Wildpaw meowed exasperatedly. "Like, when you _like like _someone."

"What?"

"Do you think Tanglepaw loves Running Under The Stars?"

Runningpaw paused for a moment. Finally, he mewed, "Well, maybe not _love, _but maybe _like like._"

"Exactly!" Wildpaw meowed. She brushed her tail tip against Runningpaw's shoulder. "You are learning, young grasshopper."

Runningpaw grunted.

"Anyhoo, do you wanna play tic-tac-toe?"

"What in StarClan's name is tic-tac-toe?"

"Well, there's the X and O thing, and then there's a hand game." Wildpaw seemed to study her paws. "Rather, paw game."

"Just start with the X and O thing," Runningpaw growled.

"Okay!" Wildpaw mewed brightly. She extended one claw and dragged it in a patch of dirt, making criss-crossing lines. "Now, all you do is put an X--" She drew an X. "or an O--" She drew an O. "in any of the nine spaces I have here. You want three in a row, vertical, horizontal, or diagonal."

Runningpaw sighed. "Let's get this over with."

"I'll be X's, and you be O's."

"Fine."

Wildpaw drew an X in the middle space. "Now you go."

Runningpaw drew an O in the space to the left of it.

Wildpaw drew an X in the space above her previous one. "Now, you want to stop me from getting three in a row," she explained, "so you should put your O beneath my first X."

Runningpaw did as she said. Wildpaw put an X to the right of his O. Runningpaw put an O on top of that. Wildpaw put an X on top of his first O.

"I win!" she declared.

"Why?" Runningpaw snarled.

Wildpaw dragged her claw. "Diagonal."

Runningpaw looked at the marks in the dirt.

X X  
O X O  
O X

Runningpaw sighed. "Fine. You win."

Wildpaw swished her tail around, her eyes swirling through shades of blue and green.

After a while, she meowed happily, "Now...do you wanna have an eating contest?"


	3. So You Think You're Tough, Huh?

The badger knocked Wildpaw onto her side, with the cut on her shoulder bleeding heavily.

"So you think you're tough, huh?" Wildpaw hissed. "Well, bow down to my fiery claws of fury!"

Wildpaw lunged at the badger and clawed at its belly. The badger roared and brought it's paw down on top of her head, making her stagger.

"Okay, maybe you _are _pretty tough," she panted.

"Come on, Wildpaw! You have to save Bramblepaw!" Rosepaw cheered.

Wildpaw looked behind the badger, where it was keeping Bramblepaw hostage. Bramblepaw's amber eyes were wide and pleading, his dark brown tabby fur bristling with fear. Wildpaw was struck once again at how much he looked like Tigerstar. But Wildpaw knew better. Bramblepaw wasn't a descendant of Tigerstar; someone else in their group was.

Wildpaw clawed at the badger's legs, and it grunted, but it was barely weakened.

"Why can't we help her?" Lilypaw asked Swiftpaw angrily. "Why are we just standing here?"

"Because," Honeypaw broke in, "Wildpaw's the only one strong enough to defeat it. If any of us tried, we would get killed."

Thoughts were racing through Wildpaw's head as she dodged the badger's blows. _How can I defeat it? Brute strength and fighting skill isn't working. Maybe...maybe I don't have to _defeat _it. Maybe I only have to _distract _it!_

"_What _is she _doing_?" Loudpaw hissed critically. "She's not fighting anymore!"

Honeypaw nodded wisely. "I think I know."

Wildpaw sucked in as much air as her lungs could take. Then she boomed, "My name is Wildpaw, and I will be singing 'I Kissed a Girl' by Katy Perry!"

"Oh, great StarClan," Loudpaw groaned.

Wildpaw pointed at Dustpaw, then at Bramblepaw. Dustpaw seemed to understand. "While it's distracted," he whispered, "we save Bramblepaw!"

The other cats nodded.

Wildpaw puffed out her chest and began.

_"This was never the way I planned_

_Not my intention..._"

Dustpaw watched Wildpaw as she strutted around, singing her demented song. Finally, the badger's attention was all on her, it's cruel gaze mesmerized by her rippling ginger fur and gruff voice.

As Wildpaw reached what she called the refrain, Dustpaw signaled to the other cats, and Dustpaw, Rosepaw, and Swiftpaw skirted around the edge of the badger's cave and next to Bramblepaw.

"_I kissed a girl and I liked it_

_The taste of her cherry chapstick_

_I kissed a girl just to try it..._"

Slowly and cautiously, Dustpaw and Swiftpaw took Bramblepaw back around the edge of the cave as Rosepaw watched to make sure the badger didn't see them.

"_No I don't even know your name_

_It doesn't matter..._"

The nine other cats besides Wildpaw ran away as fast as they could as Wildpaw finished her song.

"_I kissed a girl and I liked it_

_I liked it._"

The badger did a weird happy dance.

Wildpaw raced away as the badger was all distracted by its happy dance.

"So, you think you're tough, huh?" Wildpaw murmured. "Well, guess what, punk? _Nobody _can defeat Katy Perry." After a moment's pause, she added, "Believe me, I've tried."


	4. Sunrise

**Just so you know, sometimes I'll be switching from apprentice to warrior. Because things happen between them. StarClan gives the ten apprentices their warrior names themselves, no leader does. So they're in the middle of their journey when StarClan sends Bluestar or something to find them and give them their names. So, it'll be switching, so don't get confused.**

Dustfall sighed contentedly. StarClan had given them their warrior names a little while ago, and Loudfoot had finally learned humility. StarClan had been threatening to name him Loudface, so he humbly let them name him something more subtle, like Loudfoot, rather than Loudfire or Loudblaze. Other than that, prey was plentiful where they were, and now they were getting ever closer to where they needed to go; Wildshadow could feel it.

Bramblepelt padded up to him. "Sighing for a particular reason?" he asked, with a meaningful glance at Rosepetal.

Dustfall felt his pelt grow hot. "Yeah, well what about you?" he retorted, exaggerating his glance at Rosepetal.

Bramblepelt sighed happily. "Why are we even fighting? We both like Rosepetal. Swiftblaze likes Rosepetal. Tangleclaw may like Rosepetal, though I haven't gotten him to admit it yet." Bramblepelt's gaze turned thoughtful. "Though we all know Lilypool isn't half bad...."

"Okay, okay." Dustfall meowed.

Bramblepelt didn't stop. "Then there's Honeyflower, but we all know she's off-limits anyway, since Runningstorm gave up his position as medicine cat and gave it to her when we earned our warrior names. THEN there's Wildshadow." Bramblepelt snickered. "Oh, yeah. That would be strange."

"Hey!" Dustfall defended his friend. "Wildshadow's not _too _bad!"

Bramblepelt raised his tail in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, I'm not saying she was! She's my friend as much as she is yours."

_Not really, _Dustfall thought. _You don't know the half of it._

_The half of what? _interrupted a nosy voice.

Dustfall sighed in his mind. _Wildshadow, will you get out of my mind?_

_What, you hate me now?_

_No, it's just that I'm still freaking out that StarClan gave us the power to talk to each other in our minds._

_Well, really, now. It's not TOO bad. I mean, seriously. Now I know all your secrets._

_And that's a GOOD thing?_

_Yep. Now, excuse me, I've got a little thing to tell Rosepetal..._

_YOU. WOULDN'T. DARE._

_You obviously don't know me very well._

Dustfall broke his connection. He felt like he was going to die from the heat of embarrassment. Wildshadow was looking at him, a smug look on her face.

Dustfall got up and padded away, trying not to feel Wildshadow's gaze boring into his back.

He went down to the base of the hill he and his comrades were camping on for now. They hadn't moved in a few days, catching up on their rest.

_How long has it been since we left the Clans? _Dustfall thought. _Quite a while, _came Wildshadow's voice, though he knew this time it wasn't actually Wildshadow, it was just his imagination.

_Wildshadow. _The name still scared him slightly. It sounded...evil. Dustfall shook the thought away. No. Wildshadow wasn't evil.

Dustfall pounced on a mouse and devoured it ravenously. He didn't feel that hungry, he was just trying to distract his mind from thoughts of Wildshadow. And Rosepetal. And possibly Lilypool, too.

Dustfall was still at the bottom of the hill with his own musings when night fell. He tried to block up his mind so Wildshadow wouldn't break into it. _StarClan, why did you do this to me? _he wondered.

Suddenly, a growl came from the grass. Three lean, tawny shapes slid out from the shadows. _Foxes!_

Dustfall knew that his friends were probably all asleep. They would never hear him if he yowled, because they were all very heavy sleepers. Besides, the hill was pretty tall. It would probably be fainter if it reached them, anyway.

Dustfall rose his hackles. He hissed at the foxes, but they didn't back away. He knew what his only hope was now.

_WILDSHADOW! _he yowled.

What he got back was a snore, and he was dragged into her dream.

A Twoleg female was running next to an older Twoleg female, playing some sort of game. Then they dove into a small pool of water, laughing and splashing each other. He only heard a few words.

"Fun...swim...Beth..."

Dustfall pulled himself out of her mind. The foxes were advancing on him. He knew he had to wake Wildshadow up, or he was dead meat.

_Wildshadow! _he screeched.

_Brittany...where'd you go?_

_Wildshadow, please, WAKE UP!_

_Why is it so cold?_

_WILDSHADOW!_

_Brittany...is that you?_

_No, it's Dustfall!_

_Dustfall?_

_Yes! I'm being attacked by foxes! HELP!_

Dustfall couldn't think anymore as the first fox lunged at him. He rolled under it, slashing at it's belly, and coming back up. The fox snarled, and the other two lauched themselves at him. Dustfall jumped over them and landed on the first one's back, tearing out clumps of fur. The fox shook him off, and he fell to the ground. The three all jumped at him, and he braced himself for the end.

A flash of ginger, then another of lighter ginger and white. Wildshadow and Rosepetal knocked the foxes off their feet and sent them skidding backward into the tall grass. Whimpering, the foxes limped away.

Wildshadow's eyes sparkled. "I heard you," she meowed. Then her eyes glimmered with mischief. "And the only cat who I could wake fast enough was Rosepetal."

Dustfall shot her an angry glare.

_I don't think you want your girlfriend to see that twisted face of rage you have on right now. Just thank me later, okay?_

Dustfall relaxed, not bothering to correct her. _Fine._

"I couldn't hear you myself," Rosepetal meowed. "I guess Wildshadow's got pretty good ears."

"Yeah," Dustfall meowed, with a meaningful glance at Wildshadow to tell her to not say anything.

Wildshadow nodded. "Yeah, well....As will. says, I got it from my mama, I suppose."

Dustfall and Rosepetal just shook their heads. The three ShadowClan cats then settled on their backs on the side of the hill and watched the stars move across the sky.

They were still there, just three friends, at sunrise.


	5. Midnight Run

"Let's race!"

Swiftpaw jerked his head up. "What?" he meowed.

"Come on, let's go!" Wildpaw urged, dancing around on the tips of her paws. "I'm really hyper tonight. I suppose I shouldn't have broken into that house and eaten all their sugar, but now, I'm HYPER!" Wildpaw raced around Swiftpaw in circles, jumping over his back and doing somersaults.

Swiftpaw looked doubtfully at the black sky. The stars twinkled like Wildpaw's eyes. "Won't we wake the others?" Swiftpaw meowed. "I mean, it's almost midnight. They're probably all asleep."

"I'm not," Loudpaw mumbled. "Because some cat keeps screaming 'I'm hyper' like they're some sort of bird."

Wildpaw shrank and mewed in a small voice, "Sorry."

"Well, you got me up now." Loudpaw groaned and got to his feet. "I'm in."

"Hey, I wanna be part of this!" Lilypaw complained.

"Just give it up," Tanglepaw muttered, turning over. "You all know that Wildpaw's unbeatable."

"And besides," Honeypaw murmured, opening one eye, "we're in the middle of a Twolegplace. Where do you expect to run?"

"That's the exciting part!" Wildpaw whispered excitedly.

Swiftpaw, Loudpaw, and Lilypaw leaned in.

"On the roofs!"

"What?" Loudpaw asked.

Wildpaw sighed exasperatedly. "On the top of the Twoleg dens."

"What?!" Loudpaw exclaimed.

Wildpaw hissed. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" She pointed her tail at the top of a Twoleg den.

"No, I don't mean...never mind," Loudpaw meowed quickly.

"Seriously," Tanglepaw growled. "You guys won't beat Wildpaw."

"Fine," Wildpaw huffed. "I won't race. I'll be the ref."

Swiftpaw supposed that was the cat who determined who won.

Wildpaw swept her tail in a line. "These three rows of houses are basically even," she meowed. "No one will have a clear advantage. I'll be waiting at the end, which will be the end of the houses." Wildpaw clawed up a fence thing, up another column of weird jutting-out things, and onto the top of a Twoleg den. "See you at the finish line!" she yowled gleefully. "Whee!" She went tumbling along the tops, leaping from den to den.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Swiftpaw muttered.

"Come on, Swiftpaw, it'll be fun!" Lilypaw meowed excitedly. She followed the same path as Wildpaw up to a top. "Now, you guys get on your dens, and then Tanglepaw can start us."

"No!" Tanglepaw snarled.

"Okay then," Lilypaw mewed confidently, "Honeypaw will start us."

Honeypaw opened her eyes. "I suppose so." She got to her paws, licked one, and drew it over her ear. "What's this race called?"

"Um, does it have to have a name?" Loudpaw mewed irritably.

"Well, let's just take it from what we're doing," Swiftpaw suggested. "We're running at midnight."

"Run at Midnight?" Lilypaw meowed doubtfully.

"No, Midnight Run, you mouse-brain!" Tanglepaw hissed.

Lilypaw shot him a hard glare. "Since when did you turn so mean?"

"Okay then," Honeypaw meowed, "the Midnight Run. Get on your den tops and I'll start you when you're ready."

Loudpaw and Swiftpaw made their way up to their den tops and stood in a running position.

"Get ready..."

Swiftpaw's ear twitched. Loudpaw's tail swished. A shiver ran down Lilypaw's spine.

"Get set..."

The three racers leaned forward.

"Go!"

Honeypaw collapsed in a snore as Swiftpaw, Loudpaw, and Lilypaw burst forward.

Swiftpaw vaulted over gaps in the houses like they were nothing. He leaned forward into the wind that was ruffling his fur, determined not to lose to his obnoxious Clanmate or a she-cat.

Loudpaw leapt over his first gap, but the second den's top was very slippery. He slid down half of the steep slope, then clawed his way back up, only to start sliding down the other side.

Lilypaw ran forward, gaining speed on a few houses that had flatter tops. She thought she was in the lead until her row of dens ended, and a Thunderpath was in the way before they started up again. Undeterred, she leapt down onto the hard surface of the Thunderpath, which seemed clear, and started running across it. Suddenly, a monster came squealing around the corner, and Lilypaw shrieked.

Swiftpaw heard Lilypaw screech. He slowed down just enough to look back and saw her in the middle of a Thunderpath, her ears flattened to her head as a monster raced towards her. Swiftpaw didn't think. He leaped off his den and onto the stiff green grass in front of the den. The grass hurt his soft pads, but he didn't let it stop him as he kept moving forward.

Lilypaw shrank back as the hot breath of the monster blew at her face. _It's going to kill me! _she wailed in her head. _Now I'll never get to see Wildpaw or Honeypaw or Rosepaw or Swiftpaw...or my brother, Fogtail, or my friends still in ThunderClan, Brackenpaw and Icepaw, or my mentor, Cinderstripe...._

Just as the monster was nearly on top of Lilypaw, Swiftpaw shot across the Thunderpath and picked her up by the scruff, launching her across the hard black stuff. He was nearly out of the way, but the monster's one hard black paw struck him in the shoulder.

"Swiftpaw!" Lilypaw yowled, and ran back onto the stinking path. Swiftpaw was lying motionless, blood glistening on his shoulder.

After a few seconds, he coughed weakly.

Lilypaw looked down at him. "Deja vu, as Wildpaw says, right?"

They were both remembering the one time when Wildpaw had been leading them across a Thunderpath, but Swiftpaw had panicked and gotten hit in the same shoulder by a monster. Rosepaw had been carried away by Twolegs, only to escape them and find her way back after a few days, while Wildpaw had gone on to search for the rest of their friends who had gotten lost. It had just been Lilypaw taking care of Swiftpaw for a few sunrises, until Swiftpaw had been able to limp so they could meet up with Wildpaw again.

Loudpaw stumbled over to Swiftpaw and Lilypaw, just seeing the incident. "You okay?" he asked blearily.

Swiftpaw flicked his tail. "As good as I can be, being hit by a monster."

Lilypaw rasped her tongue over the deep wound, and Swiftpaw winced.

Lilypaw recoiled at the salty tang of blood. "We should get you to Runningpaw, since he's a medicine cat...or Honeypaw for that matter, because she knows just as much as he does, since she just _wants _to be a medicine cat." Lilypaw shuddered. "I couldn't be a medicine cat. Dealing with all that blood and pain...makes me squeamish."

Loudpaw shot her a confused look. "And yet when you're bleeding, you really don't care."

"Just forget I said anything," Lilypaw hissed.

After a few tries and much crying out in pain on all their parts, Lilypaw and Loudpaw managed to get Swiftpaw onto their backs. They carried him back to the others, where Honeypaw prodded Runningpaw in the side, and they both started bustling about to find cobwebs and marigold.

A flash of fire, and Wildpaw was standing next to Swiftpaw.

"Wildpaw?" Lilypaw meowed, stunned. "How did you know to come back here?"

Wildpaw shrugged. "I've been back here all along. Once you started, I realized that basically, for you people, the whole thing was pretty suicidal. So I thought _you'd _realize that and come back."

Lilypaw felt anger boil up inside of her, but she decided to quell it. Nothing useful ever came out of arguing with Wildpaw.

"Well." Wildpaw yawned, stretched, and licked her paw. "I guess that we'll never have another--what did you call it?--_midnight run _again."


	6. Broken Promises

Wildshadow looked back, to where her friends--no, she corrected herself, not friends anymore--were making sure she left, and didn't try to come back. She hated the mistrustful glare in their eyes, and the hurt, and the sadness and confusion.

_Dustfall? _she tried, reaching out to his mind.

_What do you want? _he snarled back.

_I...I'm sorry. I didn't want any of this to happen._

_You should have thought of that _before _you nearly killed us._

_But I almost always nearly kill you._

_Not purposefully._

Dustfall's mind retreated from hers.

Sickness rose in Wildshadow as she thought of what he meant. They couldn't understand that she didn't mean it. They couldn't understand that she would never hurt them.

They couldn't understand that she wasn't acting on her own.

Wildshadow made sure she was out of range of their hostile looks, then settled down to sleep. She wanted to meet with the cat who had ruined everything.

After some uneasy tossing and turning, Wildshadow awoke in the familiar dark forest, where only the glowing mosses gave the faintest of light.

"Tigerstar?" she called warily.

A huge dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes padded out of the brush.

"Tigerstar!" she hissed, suddenly remembering her anger. "How _dare _you do that to me!"

Tigerstar's eyes glinted mischievously. "What?" he asked innocently.

Wildshadow's fur bristled, and her hackles raised. "You know!" she snarled.

Tigerstar shrugged.

Wildshadow blew out a breath noisily. "Take over my mind like that! Take over my body like that! Make me lose myself until I was nothing more than your robot!"

"What's a robot?" Tigerstar meowed scathingly.

Wildshadow growled. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that once you did that, I realized. I realized why ShadowClan has become so corrupt with evil. I realized what you thought I would be too dumb to realize."

Tigerstar cocked his head.

"You and the rest of the dark forest have taken over the minds of the ShadowClanners."

Tigerstar cocked his head the other way. "Maybe we did, or maybe your ShadowClan just realized what a true, strong Clan is like."

Wildshadow hissed. "I never knew my Clan but for the evil it was. But now I know how a Clan should be. Not like that."

Tigerstar smirked. "So, then, what are you going to do about it?"

Understanding struck Wildshadow like a wave. Finally, after all those moons of travelling for something that they didn't know, just on the whim of trouble, Wildshadow knew.

"That's what this journey is about. To stop you."

Tigerstar cackled. "Go on, then! Go tell your little friends! I'm sure they'll _love _to accept you back into their group, _especially _after you nearly ripped out Loudfoot's throat!"

Wildshadow sank her claws into the ground. "I don't care," she snarled. "I don't need you! And neither does your descendant Rosepetal, if you're thinking of trying to influence _her_! And for that matter, neither does Firestar's descendant Lilypool need you either!"

"But you need me," Tigerstar meowed simply.

A shiver rippled down Wildshadow's spine. "No!" she yowled, though more uncertainly. "I'm...not..._you_!"

Wildshadow woke up for real. She was where she had fallen asleep, behind a Twoleg nest, out of sight of the others.

She reached out with her mind. Even if they had moved, she had been working on her range of distance lately, so she should be able to...

_Dustfall!_

A wall blocked her mind from his. Desperately she pushed at it, looking for a weak spot.

_ShadowClan memories--blocked. Thoughts of Wildshadow--blocked. Hunger--blocked._

Finally, she found a weak spot.

_Thoughts of Rosepetal..._

She called him again.

_Dustfall!_

_Ack! Oh, it's you. I don't want to listen._

_Please! I know the reason for the journey!_

This made Dustfall hesitate. _What is it?_

_The dark forest is taking over the minds of cats, and soon they'll have all four Clans under their control!_

_Nice lie, _Dustfall snarled.

Wildshadow was astounded. Dustfall almost always saw clear reason. _But it's true!_

_Right. So, who should I listen to? StarClan, or the cat who swore an oath and then broke it?_

A painful memory came washing back over Wildshadow.

_"I promise," Wildpaw meowed seriously, "that no matter what, I'll always protect you."_

_"Protect us?" Swiftpaw snorted. "How would _you _protect us?"_

_Wildpaw looked at him straight in the eye. "The world is more dangerous than you think."_

A broken oath.

Wildshadow had nearly killed Loudfoot, when she had promised to protect him.

_Exactly, _Dustfall thought at her, sounding satisfied.

_It wasn't my fault! _Wildshadow wailed.

But Dustfall broke the connection, and Wildshadow couldn't get back in, because he had erased all thoughts of Rosepetal from his mind.

Defeated, Wildshadow began walking down a sidewalk. _Sidewalks, _she thought miserably. _Now no one will be able to enforce the words _sidewalks _and _streets.

After walking for a while, she became bored with her own misery, and began singing the song she always sung when she had done something wrong.

"_I walk this empty street_

_On the boulevard of broken dreams..._"

Wildshadow paused.

No, not broken dreams.

Broken oaths.

Broken oaths.

Broken promises.


	7. Frozen

"Holy goodness!" Wildpaw yowled gleefully.

"Dis ishn't luch oth a lauthing thisuation," Bramblepaw hissed as well as he could.

"What?" Runningpaw asked.

"'This isn't much of a laughing situation,'" Rosepaw translated.

"Oh, but it is," Wildpaw _mrrowed. _"It IS!"

Bramblepaw looked helplessly at his protruding tongue, stuck up against an icicle hanging from a cave.

"Why'd you do it, anyway?" Honeypaw meowed curiously.

Bramblepaw did his best to shoot Wildpaw an evil glare. "A dare."

"'A dare,'" Rosepaw meowed.

"I think we understood that," Runningpaw mewed, turning to Wildpaw. "Why?" he asked wearily.

Wildpaw was dancing around in glee. "Because I knew what would happen!" she meowed happily. "Because I KNEW!"

"It was pretty cruel," Loudpaw growled.

Wildpaw stood on the tips of her paws. "I'm a cruel kind of person."

Bramblepaw rolled his eyes. "Thust _thelp vee!_"

"'Just help me,'" Rosepaw mewed.

"Why do you keep translating?" Runningpaw meowed exasperatedly.

Rosepaw shrugged. "'Cause I can."

Honeypaw looked at Wildpaw. "How do you get his tongue unstuck?"

Wildpaw shrugged. "I dunno."

"This is a time to be serious," Honeypaw snapped.

Wildpaw gave a genuine shrug. "Seriously. I don't know."

Bramblepaw's eyes widened in fear.

"Don't panic," Honeypaw meowed, though she sounded like she was panicking herself. "Er..."

"Oh, shut up," Wildpaw meowed crossly, and stood next to Bramblepaw.

"What are you going to do?" Dustpaw asked.

"Just watch," Wildpaw hissed, and raised her paw.

Bramblepaw jumped. "I thon't thinth thith isth a gooth ithea--"

"'I don't think this is a good idea!'" Rosepaw mewed fearfully.

Wildpaw brought her paw down on Bramblepaw's tongue.

"Aaaaaaah!" Bramblepaw screeched. His tongue was ripped free from the icicle.

Wildpaw inspected the icicle. "Other than a few dislodged taste buds, you should be okay."

Bramblepaw sucked his tongue inside his mouth, wincing at the pain. "Why'd you do that?" he asked, cringing.

Wildpaw shrugged. "'Cause I could." Then her face split into a look of joy. "Your tongue was frozen to that icicle!" she mewed mischievously, dancing around again.

"Your heart is frozen!" Bramblepaw retorted.

Suddenly, Wildpaw seemed to freeze herself. Her face fell into seriousness. She then said something ominous, but the rest of the cats ignored it, because she said odd things like it so often.

"You don't know how true that statement is."


	8. Can't Even Save Myself

Wildshadow struggled under the weight of the huge cat.

"Who are you?" she gasped.

The cat's rotten breath steamed by her ear. "My name is Curse. I am the new leader of BloodClan!"

Wildshadow hissed. "BloodClan?"

"Yes," Curse hissed. "We have come back, stronger than ever, under my leadership. We are even stronger than when the great Scourge led us! We are undefeatable!"

Wildshadow looked frantically around the clearing. Trees surrounded her on all sides, so she couldn't look for help. Her friends were long gone, believing she wanted to kill them. What must be left of BloodClan were circled around her, jeering and hissing.

She was alone.

"Well, well, you're obviously ShadowClan," Curse growled, after sniffing her fur. "And you know what we think of ShadowClan?"

"They're way too hot to be real?" Wildshadow mewed hopefully.

"No," Curse snarled. "We hate them!"

"Yeah, didn't see that comin'," Wildshadow meowed sarcastically. Then her face changed. "Whoa, whoa, wait a sec. This is because of Tigerstar?"

Curse nodded savagely.

Wildshadow cocked her head. "But Tigerstar's WAY hot, anyway. So...."

Curse lashed out at her head, and Wildshadow was sent reeling.

Curse put a huge paw on her neck. Claws sheathed--for now.

"Now," Curse mewed ominously. "Just give us what we want, and we won't hurt you."

Wildshadow gulped painfully. "What do you want?"

Curse flashed his yellow teeth. "You."

"Why?"

Curse shuffled impatiently. "You are all-powerful!"

Wildshadow shivered. "No, I'm not," she meowed unconvincingly.

"Well, then," Curse hissed. "Maybe you'd be more willing if we showed you this."

Wildshadow's eyes widened in horror as a familiar black-and-white shape was thrown into the clearing, with a cat coming over to place his paw on his neck.

"Swiftblaze!" Wildshadow yowled.

Swiftblaze locked his amber eyes with her hazel ones. "Don't do anything they ask you to!" he mewed breathlessly. The cat above him hissed and pressed his paw down harder, so Swiftblaze began to gasp.

"Stop it!" Wildshadow pleaded. "Stop! Just stop! I'll do anything!"

Swiftblaze looked at her helplessly. "No, Wildshadow!" he croaked.

"Good, good," Curse meowed slyly. "Now, tell me, or your mate dies--"

"He's not my mate!" Wildshadow meowed, wriggling in embarrassment.

Curse's whiskers twitched in amusement. "Okay then. Now tell me, or your friend dies. _What can you do_?"

"I don't know!" Wildshadow wailed. "IDK, my BFF Jill! Please, just let Swiftblaze go!"

"Well then," Curse meowed. "If you don't want to cooperate..."

The cat over Swiftblaze sunk his claws into Swiftblaze's neck.

"_Swiftblaze_!" Wildshadow shot out from under Curse and tackled the cat. He went flying into a tree.

Swiftblaze coughed, and a clot of blood came out. Blood streamed from his neck.

Wildshadow crouched down over Swiftblaze. "Swiftblaze..." she whispered desperately. "This is my fault. I'm...I'm sorry."

Swiftblaze coughed again. "Don't...don't be sorry. If we had believed you, none of this would have happened."

Wildshadow shook her head. "Swiftblaze..."

Curse snarled, and lunged at Wildshadow. Wildshadow didn't even try to fight back. Her thougts flashed back to that day when they started their journey, and the oaths she took.

_"I swear that I'll always put myself in your place, if like, you're going to get killed or something," Wildpaw meowed._

_Loudpaw looked at her doubtfully. "Not many cats would do that."_

_"I would," Wildpaw mewed, shrugging. "Anyhoo, I'll try to protect you...and stuff."_

_"You already mentioned that," Swiftpaw pointed out._

_"So?" Wildpaw meowed, tipping her head at him. "I think it's important. I'll save you...from anything. I won't hesitate."_

_"How can _you _help _us_?" Lilypaw asked. "I mean, you're not any more powerful than us."_

_Wildpaw now cocked her head at Lilypaw. "Eh, IDK my BFF Jill. Just sounds heroic, doesn't it?"_

Curse raised his paw, claws unsheathed, over Wildshadow's neck. "You're not the one," he caterwauled. "You're definitely not the one. You're so weak and helpless...you can't bring us power."

Curse brought his claws down on Wildshadow's neck.

_I'm sorry, Swiftblaze, _she yowled in her mind. _I couldn't save you._

_I can't even save myself.  
_


	9. Expectations

Honeypaw looked at the stars. Then she looked at the sleeping forms of her other nine friends.

Did they truly understand how dangerous this could be to whatever their mission was supposed to be, staying in the Tribe's camp like this?

Honeypaw looked at the entrance to the camp. She didn't know the names of any of these cats in the Tribe of Smoldering Embers, except for two. The leader, Teller of the Burning Flames, and the Tribe cat they met before coming onto what they called a _volcano, _a white she-cat with green eyes named Glistening Snow.

Wildpaw seemed so distracted with Glistening Snow. She kept murmuring to herself, "Do I know you?" Honeypaw didn't know how Wildpaw would know Glistening Snow, but she didn't like it.

Honeypaw sighed. She padded over to Wildpaw and looked down on her.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and Honeypaw found herself in the starry forest of StarClan.

_What? How did I get here? _Honeypaw thought quickly. _What's going on?_

Wildpaw was before her, and she spun around.

"Honeypaw?" she asked confusedly. "How'd you get here?"

Honeypaw shrugged, flipping her head around. "I don't know--it just happened so fast--"

Wildpaw flicked her tail over Honeypaw's flank. "Whatev. Come on; StarClan called me, so I have to go."

Honeypaw followed Wildpaw uneasily as Wildpaw trotted through the forest. Finally, they came upon a clearing in which Feathertail sat on a stump.

"Hey, Feathertail!" Wildpaw meowed excitedly. "Why'm I here?"

Feathertail sighed. "Oh, for no good reason."

Wildpaw tipped her head. "What?"

Feathertail sighed again. "We have to tell you, I suppose. No reason to delay."

Honeypaw leaned forward to hear better.

Feathertail looked at Honeypaw sympathetically. "And Honeypaw. We called you here, too, because we think this secret is too big for one cat."

Wildpaw gave a small excited bounce.

"Wildpaw," Feathertail mewed smally, "you are the chosen one."

Honeypaw gasped, but to her surprise, Wildpaw just snorted. "Not trying to be snooty, but yeah, like I didn't know that."

Feathertail's blue eyes widened. "You...you knew?" she meowed, sounding astounded.

Wildpaw shrugged. "Well, yeah. It's kinda obvious, 'cause, you know, like, I can do these weird things."

"What weird things?" Feathertail asked sharply.

Wildpaw looked pressured. "I dunno...like...read Dustpaw's mind?"

Feathertail gaped at her. "You can?"

"Yeah." Wildpaw smirked. "He has a crush on Rosepaw!"

Feathertail shook her head. "It never ceases to amaze me what living cats know these days." She fixed her gaze on Wildpaw intently. "Since you know for sure now, just remember that we have high expectations."

Wildpaw danced on the tips of her paws. "Okay, okay, whatev. Now, _please_, can I wake up? I'm hungry, and I don't think any of your food will help me."

Feathertail dipped her head. "Well. I suppose that's all I needed to tell you. You may leave."

Another flash of light, and Honeypaw was standing again over the stirring Wildpaw.

Wildpaw yawned, stretched, and immediately headed for the caught-prey pile. She gobbled down a sooty mouse, then looked at Honeypaw. "That was some party, wasn't it?"

Honeypaw just gave Wildpaw a slightly humored look. But the words of Feathertail still ran around in her head.

_We have high expectations._

What did those expectations entail?


	10. Too Much

"What is _that_?" Tanglepaw meowed, giving the pile of brown stuff a dark look. "It looks like dirt."

"It's the best thing in the world," Wildpaw argued, taking all nine cats in with one glance. "_Chocolate_."

"_Chocolate_?" Honeypaw asked.

"Chocolate," Wildpaw repeated confidently.

Tanglepaw looked at the chocolate in disgust. "Is it really meant for cats?"

"It's meant for anything," Wildpaw assured. "Mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians. Anything."

"If you...say so..." Dustpaw meowed, and bent down and licked some of it up. Tanglepaw was expecting for him to spew it everywhere screaming "EW!" But instead, his face split into one of wonder.

"It's...the best thing I've ever tasted!" he yowled in awe.

Lilypaw tried some too, and came up with her face coated in chocolate. "It is!" she agreed.

Every cat settled down to try some, except Tanglepaw.

"Seriously?" he growled. "You're trying this..._dirt_?"

"It's not dirt," Wildpaw meowed, her mouth full. "It's the best thing anyone's ever invented."

Scowling, Tanglepaw tried some. It tasted amazing, but he didn't want to say so.

"It's _horrible_!" he spat, spewing chocolate everywhere.

"Chill," Wildpaw meowed. "Just let the chocolate warm your soul, 'kay, man?"

Still scowling, Tanglepaw ate more.

Finally, they all had their fill, and laid back on their backs.

"Why don't the Clans catch chocolate more often?" Lilypaw murmured.

"You don't catch chocolate," Tanglepaw hissed. "I've never seen it before in the wild."

"Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean it's not out there," Lilypaw argued.

Honeypaw looked at Wildpaw. "Does this have any sort of side effects?" she asked.

Wildpaw's eyes were blank. "Well, they've got sugar in them."

"What's sugar?" Honeypaw asked.

"Sugar. Well, I guess it makes you feel very..."

Wildpaw paused. Suddenly, she sprang to her feet and started racing around, weaving through bracken and leaping up trees at breakneck speed.

"HYPER!" she screeched. "WHEEEEE!"

Tanglepaw sat up in alarm. He watched each cat suddenly leap up and go into a hyper-frenzy like Wildpaw. Tanglepaw felt energy begin to course through his limbs. He jerked to his feet and stiffly walked to a large pond a little ways away that they had found, drinking slowly and calmly.

Wildpaw shot out of the trees and lunged over Tanglepaw. He watched in amazement as Wildpaw made a big arc and landed with a huge splash in the water.

"Ha ha!" she squealed as Tanglepaw got drenched. She began diving and swimming through the water even better than a RiverClan cat.

Tanglepaw groaned and shook off the water. "Weirdo," he muttered. He began to feel calmer, so he went back to their clearing.

Every cat was gone except Dustpaw, who was still bouncing off the trees.

"Stop, Dustpaw!" he called irritably. "You're a cat, not a fish out of water."

Dustpaw suddenly collapsed. "Where'd all the energy go?" he moaned.

Tanglepaw listened, and, sure enough, he heard all the other cats dropping to the ground and moaning with tiredness.

Wildpaw came staggering through the trees and flopped down. "That was some party," she breathed.

"Well, will you never eat chocolate again?" Tanglepaw meowed, his whiskers twitching with pride and amusement.

"Nah," Wildpaw meowed. "It wasn't eating the chocolate. I just ate too much."


	11. All That I Have

Rosepetal stood in StarClan's forest. Dustfall and Wildshadow were standing on either side of her, looking down into the pool that Yellowfang had showed them.

The pool looked like nothing more than a pool of water. "What's it supposed to do?" Dustfall muttered.

"Hang on," Wildshadow meowed. "I think it's broken." Tentatively she raised a paw on over the water. Then she brought it down really fast, splashing the water in all directions. "Hum...hum...hum show us ShadowClan...hum..."

"Wildshadow," Dustfall meowed sarcastically, "I don't think that's going to work."

The water rippled, and below they say the ShadowClan camp.

Wildshadow looked at Dustfall, her eyes as wide as moons. "What doesn't work?"

Rosepetal nudged both of them. "Sh. Look."

The cats bent over the pool.

Their tyrannic leader Deadstar stood on the low pine branch that most leaders stood on to give announcements. He seemed to be saying something especially bad, because even the cats, who seemed to usually agree with everything he said, seemed doubtful.

A tiny gray tomcat was shoved forward. It was either a kit or a young apprentice. He stumbled on a root, and seemed to cry out in pain. His leg, which had been straight, was now twisted at an odd angle.

"Where's the volume on this thing?" Wildshadow murmured, but Rosepetal and Dustfall were looking at each other.

"Is that..." Dustfall meowed uneasily.

"I think it is."

They were both thinking of the kit that Lilypool had always told them about. The queen Morningwing had been expecting kits, but ShadowClan attacked and injured her, so two of her kits were born dead. The third had some odd disease that caused his bones to be brittle. His name was Rainkit.

Wildshadow looked at the side of the pool, at a random rock. "Ah, there we go." She dragged her claw across the rock. Sound blared out from the pool. Wildshadow dragged it back a little bit, so that the sound was still loud, but not deafening. "There."

Cats were jeering at Rainkit, though slightly uncertainly. Deadstar was _mrrowing _in cruel laughter.

Rosepetal's heart went out to the poor little kit, who was crying out in pain because of his broken front leg. Deadstar flicked his tail toward one of the cats, whom Rosepetal recognized as Attackfang. Attackfang looked at him fearfully, then lashed out at the kit's back leg, which immediately broke. Rainkit fell to the ground, wailing.

Rosepetal looked in depression. She hated everything about ShadowClan now. She hated the cruel names. She hated the abuse. She hated the leader.

Deadstar leapt down from his branch and stood over Rainkit, a smirk on his face. There was another cry of pain, but not from the kit. It was Rosepetal's mother, Desperateheart, trying to break forward and stop him.

"Save your strength, Desperateheart," Deadstar snarled. Then he turned to Rainkit. With a sickly sweet voice, he meowed, "Hello, little kit. What is your name?"

Rainkit gasped. "R-R-Rainpaw."

Rosepetal had a sharp intake of breath. They let the poor kit be an apprentice? Wasn't that just sort of mocking him, letting him be something he could never be?

"Well, Rainpaw," Deadstar meowed, cocking his head, "What Clan are you from?"

_You should know! _Rosepetal raged inside her head.

Rainpaw tried to look dignified. "ThunderClan," he meowed proudly but weakly.

"Hm." Deadstar looked at him, then snarled and stomped on another of Rainpaw's legs. The screech of pain was so heart-wrenching that Rosepetal felt like she would die in pity.

"Stop it!" Desperateheart cried. "Stop it!"

"Not on your life, honey," Deadstar caterwauled crazily. "Now leave! Leave in exile!"

"Something is seriously wrong with that cat," Wildshadow muttered.

"What do you want with me?" Rainpaw wailed.

"What do we want?" Deadstar meowed. He leaned in toward Rainpaw. "We want you."

Rainpaw's blue eyes widened in fear. "W-why?"

"You're our new hostage," Deadstar meowed. "ThunderClan wouldn't dare attack us again in fear of hurting you. If they do..." Deadstar cackled. "They'd be just heartless."

"_You're _heartless!" Wildshadow yowled. "_How could you be so heartless_?"

"Wildshadow!" Rosepetal scolded. "This is no time for Kanye West!"

The vision in the pool rippled, and it turned black.

"What happened?" Rosepetal meowed desperately, looking down into the pool. "Where'd it go?"

"We saw all we needed to see," Wildshadow meowed gravely.

"We just needed to know that ShadowClan's really in trouble," Dustfall meowed.

Rosepetal kept staring into the pool. "I've lost my mother. I've lost my Clan." She looked to the sky. "All that I have left is my friends."


	12. Struck Down

Wildpaw lunged at Rosepaw.

Rosepaw grunted. She rolled over, crushing Wildpaw beneath her. Wildpaw gasped as the breath was driven from her lungs.

"Wow!" Lilypaw commentated. "And in a surprising act, Rosepaw is on top of Wildpaw!"

"Not for long, foo!" Wildpaw hissed, and slipped away. Rosepaw crashed to the ground. Wildpaw whipped around, striking her paw against her head.

"Wildpaw made a daring move and has sent Rosepaw reeling!" Lilypaw meowed excitedly. "This is some fight, folks!"

Rosepaw growled and rolled into Wildpaw, unbalancing her. Then Rosepaw leapt to her feet and brought her paw across Wildpaw's face, claws sheathed.

"Ohhhh..." Wildpaw groaned, and fell to the ground in slow motion.

Rosepaw sprang into the air and landed on Wildpaw's back, bringing her paws down her sides. Wildpaw rolled over, now crushing Rosepaw.

"And now Wildpaw is on top of Rosepaw!"

Rosepaw tried to slip out from under Wildpaw like Wildpaw had done before, but Wildpaw was ready. She moved with Rosepaw, then flipped over and brought her paw down Rosepaw's belly, just as Rosepaw did the same for her.

Both cats fell to the ground.

"Ohhh..." Rosepaw groaned.

"Struck down in our prime," Wildpaw meowed pathetically.

Lilypaw swished her tail. "That was a good fight," she meowed. "I wish I was as good as you."

"You are," Rosepaw argued. "And besides, if it went on, Wildpaw would've won anyway. She _always _wins."

Wildpaw shrugged. "Watching all those shows on war strategies has its advantages."

Rosepaw looked at Wildpaw, who looked at Lilypaw, who looked at Rosepaw.

"What do you wanna do now?"

"Erm..." Lilypaw looked into the trees.

"Uh..." Rosepaw looked at the sky.

"Mwahahahaha!" Wildpaw yowled.

Lilypaw and Rosepaw looked at her. "What?"

Wildpaw shrugged again. "Just...making noise."

Lilypaw shrugged too. "Want to have a Struck-Down contest?"

Rosepaw groaned. "We did that yesterday!"

"I don't know!" Lilypaw meowed defensively. "I'm just trying to come up with ideas!"

Wildpaw flicked her tail. "Besides, I always win."

Lilypaw glared at her. "We don't know about all those heroic battles of, like, Henry the Eighth or whoever."

"You mean Alexander the Great," Wildpaw meowed. "Henry the Eighth was the dude who had six wives. Or, mates."

"How do you have a long enough life span to have six mates?" Rosepaw meowed wonderingly.

Wildpaw shook her head. "I'm not going through the lifespan thing again."

Suddenly, Wildpaw fell onto her back. Gasping, she mewed, "Struck down...in my prime...why, Alexander, why?"

Lilypaw just stared at her. "You're one strange cat, Wildpaw."


	13. Last Hope

"Wildshadow....You are our last hope."

Wildshadow snorted. "I _know _that already."

Bluestar glanced warily around the dark clearing. She paced nervously on the glowing fungi. "Please, Wildshadow, keep it down. StarClan cats are prisoners, remember? You've figured out the reason for your journey now."

Wildshadow flipped her head back and forth. "Yes. The dark forest is taking over the minds of Clan cats and trying to come back to life and they captured all the StarClan cats and made them their prisoners and now I'm the only one who can stop them. We've been through this before."

Bluestar hissed. "You've got an attitude. Maybe you're not the one. We've made the mistake before."

Wildshadow looked at Bluestar. "With who?"

"With a leader long ago. We thought she was the chosen one. Then she got killed."

"Harsh."

"Yes," Bluestar hissed. "Very harsh. But Wildshadow, you have to listen?"

"What more do I need to listen to? All you've told me is that I have to find my friends again. Which won't be hard. It's not an issue of pride, since _they _deserted _me_."

Bluestar shook her head helplessly. "Wildshadow. We all have a bit of evil in us all. You..."

"What about me?"

"You...more so than most."

Wildshadow snorted again. "So. You called me your chosen one. Now I'm your _evil _chosen one. I thought StarClan were the good guys."

"Wildshadow!" Bluestar launched herself at Wildshadow and pinned her down. "Tigerstar got control of you before. More than once. If he can get to _you, _he can take over the world!"

Wildshadow gaped at her. "What do I have to do with the whole _world_?"

"You're more important than you think," Bluestar meowed grimly. "Now. Remember your whole journey. You _have _to do this. You've gone through too much to stop here. Think. You defeated badgers and foxes and cannibals and those BloodClan cats."

"And raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens." Wildshadow tilted her head back and forth. "Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings. These are a few of my favorite things. Now please, get off of me."

Bluestar stepped off of Wildshadow's chest. "Please, Wildshadow. You have to do this. For more than the Clans. For the world."

"If I don't, there'll be the apocalypse?"

Bluestar nodded.

Wildshadow contemplated this. "Really. I'm _that _important."

Bluestar nodded.

"And I _really _have to do this."

Bluestar nodded.

"Well then. I suppose I have no choice. If there's an apocalypse, I suppose it won't be as beastly as it is in the movies."

Bluestar looked confused. "Beastly? Movies?"

"Never mind."

A branch cracked.

Bluestar hissed in alarm. "Go, Wildshadow! Before they trap you here! And remember, you are our last hope!"

There was a rush of wind, and Wildshadow was blinking awake by the side of the spring where she had slumbered.


	14. Give Up!

"Do you give up?"

Loudpaw looked at Wildpaw. "Give up?! Never!"

"Well then. I suppose I'll have to pull out the big guns."

Loudpaw gasped in pain as Wildpaw began pressing his leg toward the rock. He fought back as best as he could, but it was no use. His paw hit the rock like a leaf.

"Yes!" Wildpaw raised her paws in the air. "Wildpaw, the arm-wrestling champion of the ten of us!"

Loudpaw licked his right front leg. "I don't like this arm wrestling."

"'Course you don't," Wildpaw meowed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because you keep losing!"

Loudpaw hissed and stalked away. He _hated _losing. He would rather hijack a bulldozer and speed through a town...again...than lose to someone.

In his fury, Loudpaw didn't notice where he was going until he stumbled over a root. He then took in his surroundings.

It was a really dark forest. The sky was black, and the only light came from glowing fungi.

"What is this place?" Loudpaw muttered to himself, wrinkling his nose. "Smells horrible."

Loudpaw lifted his head to look into the bushes, and shrieked in terror as he saw that two pairs of eyes were staring back at him, one amber and one an eerie, icy blue.

Loudpaw wailed again as the cats began to come out of the bushes, though he couldn't tell what they looked like since it was so dark.

The one towered over him, sniggering, raising their paw, looking as though they were about to strike.

Loudpaw gasped as the breath was knocked out of him. A flash of ginger, easily distinguishable even in this lighting, had pushed him aside, and was now grabbing his scruff and running as fast as they could away. For the first time in his life, Loudpaw thanked StarClan that he was unusually small for his age.

After a while, the black sky began to get pinpricks of light in it, and the weird fungus disappeared, to leave just a regular forest in the night.

"You're breaking my neck," Wildpaw hissed through her mouthful of Loudpaw. "I'm sorry, you're going to have to walk yourself from now on."

Loudpaw was unceremoniously dropped on the ground.

Loudpaw looked away. "Thanks, I guess."

"You _guess_?" Wildpaw meowed, looking affronted. "So, you're not really appreciative? No, you're just saying that? After I saved your worthless behind?"

"Okay, genuinely, thanks!" Loudpaw mewed, annoyed. "This never would have happened if you hadn't bragged about you being best at arm-westing or whatever it's called!"

Wildpaw rolled her eyes. "That wasn't _bragging_," she meowed exasperatedly, "it was simply just stating in a high and mighty manner that I was the best. Besides, _you _decided to give up."

"Give up?! Never!" Loudpaw snarled.

"I know, you've said that before," Wildpaw hissed. "Now, can we _please _get back to the others? They probably think we've died."

Wildpaw immediately turned around and stalked away. Loudpaw followed her more slowly, still brooding over their conversation.


	15. Illusion

Tanglepaw flapped out his tongue, amazed at how dry it had become. Next to him, Rosepaw tripped out of exhaustion. Tanglepaw nudged her to her feet, then dug his own into the vicious, whipping sand.

"Are we there yet?" Runningpaw called, his voice cracking out of lack of use and water.

"I don't know!" Wildpaw meowed, her hoarse voice sounding annoyed. "How would I know?"

"You're the leader!" Lilypaw yowled. "You should know!"

"Who died and made me leader?" Wildpaw argued.

"I don't know, half of the Clans?" Bramblepaw growled.

"Look, it's not my fault that that idiot Deadstar brainwashed his Clan and made them go on a killing spree," Wildpaw screeched. "Now can we _please _drop it? I have no idea where we are, we're probably going to die from lack of water, and my head is racing with random thoughts that I can't control, they might as well call me Wildhead! Now _shut up!_"

"Sassy," Dustpaw muttered.

Tanglepaw squinted around, his eyes burning from the scratches they aquired from sand. The whole place was called something like a desert, according to Wildpaw, and he realized that he never wanted to travel through one again.

Tanglepaw continued to look around. Suddenly, something caught his eye. It was something different, shimmering on the sand.

Tanglepaw veered off to his left and went toward the shimmering thing. His pace quickened as he realized what it was. Water!

"I found some!" he cried. "I found water!" He was sprinting all-out now, ready to plunge into it, to drink his fill.

"Come back!" Wildpaw called irritably. "It's not really there!"

"What do you mean?" Tanglepaw yowled back. "It's here, it's right here--" Tanglepaw broke off as he looked down at what was supposed to be the water. It was no different than the sand anywhere else.

"But it was right here," Tanglepaw mewled, his voice raising hysterically. "It was there, I know it was--"

Tanglepaw jumped as Wildpaw spoke from right next to him. "It was a mirage," she hissed. "Now let's go."

Tanglepaw held his ground. "A mirage?" he asked. "What's that?"

"It's an illusion," Wildpaw growled. "You see something that's not really there. You just want it to be."

Tanglepaw realized he was trembling violently, so he started after Wildpaw.

"Trust me," Wildpaw meowed grimly, "We're all going to see some illusions after a while."

_Illusion. _The word whispered through Tanglepaw's mind. _Illusion. _Tanglepaw jumped as the word seemed to force him to look at Wildpaw.


	16. Last Chance

Wildshadow felt a surge of anger as Curse raised his paw to rip out her throat. Energy coursed through her, furious energy that she didn't know she possessed. With a screech, she twisted violently, throwing Curse off of her. Curse's bone-reinforced claws gleamed as he snarled and came at her again, but she swiftly dodged him and lunged on top of him, clawing viciously and tearing out clumps of fur.

Curse staggered, and many of his minions came up to help him. He growled and swatted them away. Wildshadow took this opportunity to grab the bleeding Swiftblaze by the scruff and hauling him away as fast as she could. She knew, in some inexplicable way, if she got far enough, she wouldn't meet up with Curse again.

After what seemed like hours of struggling through Jell-O, Wildshadow dropped Swiftblaze, panting. Swiftblaze had stopped moving, but his chest was still rising and falling, however slightly.

"Swiftblaze," Wildshadow pleaded, pawing at his eyelids frantically. "Swiftblaze, please, you can't die, please, just say something, anything, I promise I'll get you through this!"

Swiftblaze's eyes barely opened.

"Tell Rosepetal to stop padding after me," he rasped.

Wildshadow felt a surge of relief. "Thank goodness!" she breathed.

"Um, I'm still dying here," Swiftblaze croaked, his eyes lowering to his bloodstained paws.

"Right!" Wildshadow yowled breathlessly, and she scurried around, collecting as many cobwebs as she could. When she came back, Swiftblaze's eyes had closed again, and more blood was sluggishly oozing out of his neck wound.

"Here, here," Wildshadow panted, pressing the cobwebs to the cut. Swiftblaze moaned in pain, but didn't move.

Finally, after some more cobweb-finding trips, Swiftblaze's neck was covered in sticky white cobwebs, and Wildshadow was next to him, trying to calm her frayed nerves. Finally, she drifted off to an uneasy sleep, where she immediately found herself in StarClan's forest.

Wildshadow was marveling at the glistening, frosty stars covering all the trees and grasses when a voice meowed icily, "Different, isn't it?"

Wildshadow spun around. "Bluestar!" she gasped, seeing one of the familiar faces from the many times StarClan had called her to their forest. "What do you mean, 'different'?"

"Well, you've been spending so much time in that dark forsaken place we like to call the Place of No Stars," Bluestar mewed coldly.

Wildshadow's heart dropped. "It...wasn't my fault," she meowed quickly, her mouth dry.

"You know very well it's no one's fault but your own," Bluestar hissed, starting to circle Wildshadow. "We've been trying to call you back for who knows how long! But we couldn't. Because you spent every night with Tigerstar. Tigerstar and his prisoners."

"How could Tigerstar take StarClan cats as his prisoners?" Wildshadow asked, trying to keep Bluestar talking. "And I thought you were one of his prisoners, weren't you?"

"Tigerstar can take prisoners like any living cat can take prisoners," Bluestar growled, "we just can't die. And I was a prisoner. But even Tigerstar has his blind moments, where the opportunity opens to slip away. I'm not the only one. Thunderstar and Poppydawn, for instance."

"Thunderstar?" Wildshadow meowed. "_The _Thunderstar? The first leader of ThunderClan?"

"What other Thunderstars are there?" Bluestar snapped.

"Who's Poppydawn?"

"Stop asking so many questions!" Bluestar screeched.

"No."

Bluestar froze. Her deep blue eyes slowly met Wildshadow's hazel ones, which had turned a shade of stormy gray.

"What did you say?" she meowed in a deadly whisper.

"I said, no."

Bluestar unsheathed her claws. "You dare defy the will of StarClan?" she whispered, her mouth barely moving.

"Yes, I dare."

"And why is that?"

"Because maybe I don't want the life that StarClan has destined me for."

The two she-cats said nothing for what seemed like hours. Wildshadow's mind was blank except for the will to keep her stony silence.

Finally, Bluestar meowed quietly, "No one can escape fate, Wildshadow. Except you. This was your second chance. And your last chance."

Wildshadow's mind started racing again. "What do you mean?"

Bluestar shook her head. "Leave this place, Wildshadow. You know your destiny. You know what you must do. But remember what I said. This was your second chance. Your chance to redeem yourself. This is also your last chance. To not make the mistakes again."

The starry forest blurred, and Wildshadow found herself brought sharply back to reality. Swiftblaze's breathing was no longer labored, and he was in a deep sleep.

_My second chance? _Wildshadow thought desperately. _What happened to my first chance? What _was _my first chance?_

_Sometimes goodbye is a second chance..._

Wildshadow looked sadly at Swiftblaze. She couldn't bring her terrible fate, whatever it was, on him. And the others.

The prophecy bounced around her skull.

_Four and six shall make the journey._

_Six of ten shall not return._

The meaning still wasn't clear to her, but she knew that whatever it meant, she had to go.

_Your second chance..._

_Your last chance...  
_


End file.
